Suspect in school shooting in Rio de Janeiro, says motive was revenge for bullying

Wellington Menezes de Oliveira, 23, entered his former school, Tasso da Oliviera Municipal School with two handguns and one intention in mind, to seek revenge for the bullying that he had suffered at the school years before. At least, that is the explanation for this month's school shooting that has emerged from messages from Oliveira that were recently police investigating the Rio de Janeiro case.

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"I hope this serves as a lesson, especially to those school officials that stood by with their arms crossed as students were being humiliated, ridiculed," said Menezes de Oliveira, according to the BBC. He claimed that the shooting was actually the responsibility of the students who had bullied him. "I want to leave very clear that I am not responsible for the deaths that occur, even though my fingers will be on the trigger."

Eleven students were killed, and 13 more were injured on April 7 after Menezes de Oliveira had finished his massacre in the school in Realengo a suburb of Rio del Janeiro, Brazil, according to a press release from Rio Health Secretary Sergio Cortez . The victims ranged in age from 12-15 years old and 10 of them were girls.

Menezeles de Oliveira shot himself in the head after he was shot in the stomach by third Sgt. Marcio Alexandre Alves, 38, who had reported to the school after the shooting began.

This month's tragedy was the first reported school shooting in the country's history. Brazil observed three days of mourning for the students killed. After being closed for 10 days, Tasso da Oliviera Municipal School reopened.

"He came into the class saying he was going to give a talk. He came into the eighth-grade class, on the [ground floor], and without saying anything took out a pistol from his bag and started firing," said Rafael in an interview with Globo TV. "The police arrived and he tried to the next floor, but when he saw he was surrounded he shot himself in the head."

The shooting has raised concerns in Brazil about gun control in the country, however there was no mention of addressing bullying in schools.